The Hearth Burns Brightest in the Sea
by Depths Deeper Than Delphi
Summary: After the second Gigantomachy, all seemed lost to Perseus Jackson. That was until he was saved by Lady Hestia. Although unbeknownst to the pair, they would both experience blessings and hardships in the near future. Eventual Pestia.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO.**

A small child who looked no more than 8 years old gazed intently into the blazing fire. Her iris's constantly flickering back and forth between a light hazel colour and a lively orange inferno. Although regardless of what her eyes appeared to be, the worry and fear that she harboured for the figure in the fire was immense.

The fire of the hearth revealed the scene of someone sprinting through a dense pine forest; albeit with a faint orange hue.

The more she stared at the pitch black silhouette, the more her divine eyesight began to pick up on more minute details. Sea green eyes pulsating with an ethereal glow, and a dense and powerful aura was being emitted from him that caused her skin to itch as if ants had made a home under her delicate and pale skin.

As she continued her secret observation, she started to absentmindedly run her fingers across the smooth and glossy surface of an ancient pithos with ornate images of various monsters etched into the surface with gold.

The 'child' was Lady Hestia. Goddess of the hearth, family and home. The eldest daughter of the Titan Lord Kronos and Lady Rhea.

Much like her, the pithos was much more than it seemed. Although instead of an all-powerful Olympian goddess, it was Pandora's Pithos, and within it lay the spirit of hope.

The man in the fire was the one who had entrusted her with the safeguarding of hope; Perseus Jackson.

After what seemed like an eternity, Hestia finally mustered the courage to will the image to dissipate, although what she didn't notice was the blazing green eyes staring through the fire straight at her.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO.**

 ** _Percy POV_**

I could see the peak of the original Mount Olympus pierce the sky not far ahead of me. Ahead of me lay the final battle that my seven quest mates and I had been dreading throughout our whole journey.

"It looks like the giants are already here!" Annabeth's beautiful voice broke the heavy silence and caused my heart to flutter. Gods. I could listen to that voice every second of every day, it was like music to my ears.

I craned my neck and I could barely see their heads above the tree-line. There were at least ten giants waiting to try and skewer us.

"Maybe we should make them wait a little bit longer?" Leo joked uncomfortably, only to be met with the piercing gaze that Annabeth was so well known for. Her majestic grey eyes as intimidating and calculating as ever.

"Focus" I muttered to myself, I couldn't afford to be distracted any longer. "Did you say something Seaweed brain?" Annabeth inquired, as was expected of Athena's smartest child.

"Nah I'm just talking to myself. That's all" I replied with hints of mirth in my voice.

Annabeth shoved me playfully.

"Um, can you guys flirt AFTER we've defeated the queen of mud and her ultra-violent children?" Leo chided us. I could feel my tanned cheeks heat up as a fierce blush took over my face.

"LEO!" all of us cried, Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, and I that is.

He threw his hands up in mock defeat, "Fine." he muttered.

Although strangely enough I didn't notice Annabeth blush or join in the group scolding of Leo which confused me slightly.

What was wrong?

Did she not love me anymore?

Trying to rid myself of those depressing thoughts, I shook my head vigorously, earning a few odd looks from my quest-mates.

 ** _3rd Person POV_**

The seven demigods continued their monotonous hike through the dense underbrush.

After about 10 minutes they finally reached the clearing where the giants were situated at. It was the space of a football field and void of all trees and life what so ever; it was simply a dusty expanse.

Just as the questers thought they would have the element of surprise, Porphyrion sniffed the air and turned his head before shouting, "GIANTS, TO ARMS. It seems to me like our favourite little godlings have finally decided to show up to witness the awakening of Gaea!"

Roars of approval could be heard echoing throughout their ranks; his fellow Gigantes, dozens of earthborn and a handful of other monsters.

Enceladus nodded his head towards the king of the giants, which caused him to summon a 50ft spear crackling with dark blue electricity. While the demigods were still disorientated from the immense levels of noise emanating from his army, he slammed his spear into the ground, creating a huge shockwave that nocked both friend and foe back alike.

The distinct smell of ozone could be smelt in the air after Porphyrion's attack, much to the dislike of all of the non-children of Jupiter present.

One thing was certain: the battle had started.

 ** _Percy POV_**

The smell of ozone caused me to wrinkle my nose in disgust, most likely because I'm a son of Poseidon and not Zeus. After snapping out of my daze, I let loose a feral battle cry, "FOR OLYMPUS!" and we sprinted towards the enemy lines.

Let me tell you one thing. The battle was not going well. Like at all. We may have overlooked one tiny detail about needing a god to kill their various banes'. So for 10 minutes, we were frantically running around avoiding as much confrontation with the Gigantes as possible, while viciously hacking our way through the endless ranks of lesser-monsters.

Slash, lunge, roll, slice, repeat. My mind was on complete autopilot, with my demigod ADHD allowing me to have a greater awareness of my enemies and where to attack. The one downside to my strategy was that it would be extremely easy for one of the many monsters to get a lucky hit and take me down, especially since I had lost the curse of Achilles after crossing the Little Tiber.

After another 10 minutes, we had completely decimated the support monsters, while somehow miraculously avoiding any direct engagement with the giants.

Well… until Enceladus- the smartest giant- realised what we were doing: stalling.

"They are stalling brothers! Strike them down now before the puny Olympians arrive!" His bellow was so loud that it could be heard for miles, and that was unlucky for us because I was kind of hoping the other giants wouldn't hear him. So, you know… they wouldn't all attack us while the gods were absent. Although I must say, we were in a pretty good condition to fight them. Tired, yes. But we had mostly only sustained minor scrapes and scratches.

"Where are they!?" Jason shouted in an attempt to be heard over the sounds of battle.

"Calm down Jase, I'm sure they'll be here any minute now" Piper replied, lacing her words with charm-speak. Obviously in an attempt to calm her boyfriend's nerves. But who am I to judge, it did work.

 ** _3rd Person POV_**

Despite the no-show from their gods, the demigods still battled on. With Percy and Jason both taking on Porphyrion, Piper fighting Mimas, Annabeth fighting her mother's bane, and Leo, Frank and Hazel locked in battle with Hippolytos.

After being repeatedly losing territory to the 50ft giant, Percy started condensing the moisture in the sky above, with Jason eventually joining in and causing the wind currents to spin around in a circular fashion.

They had both managed to summon a massive hurricane, with both gale force wind and lightning in a matter of seconds and didn't waste any time with using this to continue their assault on the giant king.

Out of all of the demigods, Piper was struggling the most. She was stumbling around because she had to keep dodging fast and powerful hammer strings from Hephaestus's bane, and she had neither the opportunity or energy to go on the offensive.

This game of cat and mouse continued for another minute or so, with Piper clearly worn out and defeated.

"THE FIRST BLOOD SHALL BE AT MY HANDS!" Mimas roared, with his maniacal laughter drowning out the sound of the daughter or Aphrodite's sobs and screams. He pulled his muscle and scar ridden arms back and transitioned into a powerful and fast overhead strike with his 30ft tall sledgehammer.

Just as the hammer was about to make contact with the worn out demigoddess, the sky opened up and a surge of power blasted all of the Gigantes back a few steps, much to the relief of poor Piper.

 ** _Percy POV_**

Just as I was about to swing Riptide in a deadly arc that would have caused the giant king the loss of his left leg, I felt a sudden explosion of divine power. I shielded my eyes with my sweaty arms and crouched low to the ground, unsure whether it was friendly or not.

As the dust started to settle, I could see a massive gash in the sky that connected our battleground to the grand city of Olympus. '

Gods. Annabeth did an amazing job redesigning the eternal city' I thought dreamily, before snapping out my trance.

As the portal was shrinking, I gave an enthusiastic yell.

Our reinforcements had arrived.

First came Zeus wearing light blue battle armour gilded with gold, with his master bolt crackling proudly and defiantly in his strong grip.

His chariot was made of a combination of Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold. The light that reflected off the highly polished surfaces had already started to burn some trees in the distance.

'What the Hades…' I thought to myself when I saw what was pulling his chariot. It was the four wind gods: Boreas, Zephyros, Notus and Eurus. They were all flickering between a horse-shaped form with lightning crackling inside of them, and the forms of grumpy humanoid wind gods. Although I couldn't really blame them.

At Zeus's side was Nike, who was wearing golden battle armour with a laurel wreath atop her head.

"I declare… VICTORY FOR THE GODS!" Her patriotic battle cry was met with shouts of approval from both gods and demigods alike.

Hera came next in her peacock feather chariot, which was pulled by, you guessed it… four giant peacocks. I glanced over to Annabeth only to see her face contort into a scowl at the sight of the bovine queen of the heavens.

Next came Artemis in her 12-year old form, riding in a completely silver hunting sleigh pulled by vicious looking reindeer. Unlike the other gods I had seen so far, she wore no armour. Instead, she wore her hunter's outfit, which consisted of a silver parka, black pants, and a pair of steel-toed hunting boots.

Apollo's chariot came as quite a surprise to me; it wasn't the normal Maserati Spyder convertible I was used to seeing. Instead, it was in the style of classic Ancient Greek chariots, and it was almost identical to his 'younger twin's' one, except it was fully gold of course.

The rest of the Olympians arrived in a triumphant procession; Athena, Hermes, Dionysus, which surprised me, Demeter, Ares, Hephaestus, and finally my father, Poseidon, King of the Seas.

He looked calm and laid back, wearing his Tommy Bahama shirt with palm trees and Bermuda shorts. We met eyes, sea green on sea green and he gave me a cheeky wink before he stared down the Gigantes with an unreadable expression. After all, the sea was quite… unpredictable.

"Giants, today is the day you die! FOR OLYMPUS!" Zeus boomed.

'Wow, Mr Theatre god being serious' I mused causing myself to chuckle.

 ** _3rd Person POV_**

After the gash in the sky had closed up, the demigods charged their giant foe, empowered by the precedes of their parents.

The gods joined their respective children in fighting the closet giant to them. Zeus, Hera and Jason fought against Porphyrion. Piper fought Mimas along with Hephaestus and Leo. Ares, Frank and Hazel fought Hippolytus. Annabeth, Athena, Herme, Percy and Poseidon settled on joining the fight against the king of the giants. While the twin archers chose to attack from a distance, shooting volleys of golden and silver arrows at super speeds at random targets.

The renewed vigour that the demigods fought with did them wonders; with the heroes and the gods making surprisingly quick work of the 'all-powerful' banes of Olympus.

Mimas had been forced to the ground, and not allowing the opportunity pass, Hephaestus hefted his mighty hammer towards the pitiful giant's head, while Piper simultaneous thrust Katropis into his heart. All that was left behind was a pile of dust.

Hippolytus fell to joint strike from Ares and Hazel, with the god of war cutting off the messenger Giant's legs off while Hazel impaled the giant's throat with her gleaming gold spatha.

The remainder of the giants fell soon after, with only Porphyrion left. Zeus and Jason had recently been incapacitated, with Zeus succumbing to a hit on the head by the giant's 50ft spear shaft, and Jason being struck by a huge bolt of lightning and blown into the hard embrace of a tall pine tree.

"Dad, when I say go, throw your trident at his neck!" Percy yelled. While Poseidon narrowed his eyes quizzically as if asking whether Percy had lost his mind.

"Just trust me. Please" Percy pleaded. "Just think of it like how I told you to attack Typhon." He added in desperation.

"Very well Percy, I trust you" Poseidon boomed.

The price of the seas managed a crooked grin and turned his eyes towards the 50ft behemoth in-front of him.

 ** _Percy POV_**

I could feel my heart pounding in my ribcage. Was I nervous? Definitely. Because if my plan failed, I would either probably pass out and be of no use for the rest of the battle, or meet my old friends in Elysium.

"Here we go" I muttered.

I squeezed my eyes shut and felt an excruciating pain in my gut. Unlike all the other times I had summoned my powers, this was no simple tug. It was a searing pain as if I was being cut by Backbiter, or bathing in the Styx.

For a second, nothing happened and I started to panic.

"Ha!" Porphyrion roared. "it seems the 'mighty' hero of Olympus has given up. I had always known Kronos and his brethren were weak, but this is just embracing. To think they were beaten by a useless little boy…"

Just as he was about to continue his rant, he froze and his body became rigid.

I allowed myself a slight smirk as I coaxed my powers to continue their internal assault on the giant. I could feel the ichor in his body stop flowing, but I knew it wasn't enough. I concentrated harder and willed his ichor to increase in temperature.

Every degree that it heated up by caused me more and more pain and drained more of my energy, but I refused to relent.

'Annabeth was relying on me. Heck, the whole WORLD was relying on me.' I thought as I struggled to keep using my powers.

The pain. It was unbearable. I just wanted to crawl up in a ball and die. As I continued to raise the temperature of his insides, my mind flashed to images of my past…

 _"Seaweed brain! Come on. Grab onto my hand, I got you" Annabeth called with worry in her voice…_

 _Now I was underwater in the lake at Camp Half-Blood with Annabeth. We both leaned towards each other and our lips connected. Fireworks went off in my head. I never wanted to leave the warmth of her embrace…_

I was brought back to the present by a blood-curdling scream coming from the once proud and mighty giant. I could feel his ichor had started to boil violently, and I saw his skin blister and burn.

A part of me kind of felt bad for the giant, as I'm sure this was the worst fate any being could receive. But I couldn't dwell on his pain any longer, I had to end this as fast as I could.

"NOW!" I screamed to my father.

Without any hesitation, he hefted his trident, drew his arm back and launched it like a super-sonic spear towards the giant's throat.

I saw the prongs of the trident rip into the muscles in his neck and his head swiftly detach from his body.

I felt myself relax as I stopped my assault on his very blood. Don't get me wrong, it still hurt like Hades, but at least it was fading away, much like Porphyrion's body was at the moment.

 ** _3rd Person POV_**

"Well that was easy"

Everyone snapped their heads to locate the culprit of those words and saw Leo look down to his feet and visibly shrink away.

"Never say that foolish boy" Artemis growled. "You are tempting fa…"

She was stopped by the very earth starting to shake and crack. Gaea. She had awakened.


	3. Chapter 2

_"Never say that foolish boy" Artemis growled. "You are tempting fa…"_

 _She was stopped by the very earth starting to shake and crack. Gaea. She had awakened._

 ** _Percy POV_**

It felt like the earth itself was tearing itself apart, which it kind of was. Spires of wickedly sharp rocks were thrust up from the crust until there was a 30ft wall of spikes surrounding us.

'Well played Gaea' I grimaced. I hated to admit it but it was a pretty good plan: trap us in an enclosed area, and then wipe us all out. Although what I and even Athena didn't know was how she would achieve that.

"Dad!" I remarked. "Can we generate an earthquake big enough to destroy that wall? I have a bad feeling about it."

He looked thoughtful for a second and even kept his composure when Athena snickered at the sight of him thinking.

"It wouldn't hurt to try." He replied casually. I won't lie, it was quite relieving knowing that my father was calm because if he wasn't, THEN we would have a huge problem.

"On my count" I commanded. "One, Two, THREE!"

As soon as those words left my mouth, we both slammed our respective weapons deep into the earth and mustered as much power we could to shake it. His trident was stuck a good 3ft into the ground, emitting a dazzling sea green aura and the celestial bronze trident itself glowing red hot with the amount of raw power being channeled through it.

Riptide was buried up to its hilt in the arid soil emitting a similar aura, except mine was certainly much weaker and strangely had specks of gold flashing around like sand in the wind.

The veins in my father's arms were now popping out with his muscles tensed and his feet digging into the ground, forcing his power output to grow exponentially. My stance mirrored his; feet shoulder width apart and my arms driving my weapon further into Gaea's skin.

The ground had started to rumble, but it wasn't anywhere strong enough to demolish the granite spires enclosing our forces.

"Perseus," my father uttered through gritted teeth. "I must take my divine form."

I nodded my head and all of us seven demigods present squeezed our eyes shut, only to feel a searing flash only a moment later. The temperature of the battleground had increased to an unbearable heat, obviously caused by my father's powerful godly aura.

As we continued our efforts, the ground started to shake with a greater intensity, at first increasing slowly until I gave a deafening roar. After that, Riptide had copied my father's trident and started to turn red-hot, although it felt strangely cool to the touch.

At this point, the shaking had reached its peak; at least a ten on the mortal's Richter scale. The sound was absolutely deafening. A woman's anguished scream pierced the tense silence; the scream of our favourite primordial goddess.

Armed with the knowledge that we were hurting her, we continued our assault, ignoring the fact everyone else had fallen to the ground. I gave one more defiant cry and heard the cracking of rock in the distance.

When I opened my eyes and the dust in the distance had settled, I saw us surrounded by a wall of debris. Although it was better than a wall of sharp rock, it was not what I had expected.

"Not gonna lie, I expected the rocks to crumble to dust" I exclaimed in annoyance. No one answered me like I had anticipated. Not even Athena sneering at my stupidity or Annabeth laughing at my antics.

Now I was just plain confused. I shifted my body and looked behind me only to see all of the gods and demigods bound by restraints of moss covered stone. The only part of them not covered was their nose and eyes, although I wish their eyes were covered as the sight was scarring.

I stared deep into my Wise Girl's eyes only to see tears pooling around the edges.

'What the… how?' I thought. Poseidon, Hades, Zeus. The Big Three. Incapacitated in the mere seconds I wasn't looking. Dread washed over me as I realised the severity of our problem.

We had expected Gaea to be similar in power to the Titans. But oh Hades we were wrong. How could we be so stupid? She was the earth itself, of course she would be more powerful than all of us combined!

I screamed in annoyance, only to hear a serene voice laugh. The ground itself seemed to laugh at our misfortune, shaking slightly, and stopping as soon as the woman's laugh stopped.

"GAEA! SHOW YOURSELF!" I roared, ignoring the pleading look from my father and friends to not taunt the primordial goddess. But I had to, for a tiny chance to defeat her and save my family was better than standing idle and letting her win.

Suddenly, a scorching silver light flashed with an intensity I had never felt before. I gulped.

She was here.

"Correct you are young Perseus. Although you did ask for it." She remarked mockingly.

Mustering up all the courage I could I opened my mouth and delivered my ultimatum, "Gaea, release my family immediately."

"Or what? You cannot hurt me." she sneered. "You have been beaten. If the _mighty_ Olympian Council has been captured with the flick of my wrist, what could you possibly do to harm me?"

I was at a loss for words.

'What could I do?' I thought, and luckily I didn't get an answer because that would be one problem I don't want at the moment.

"Well, I'm waiting." she yawned, her bright green eyes penetrating my very soul and making my knees feel like jelly.

Just as I was about to respond with a sarcastic remark about how if she can wait thousands of years to attack the gods, she can wait a few more minutes, I felt a strange presence enter my mind and felt my conscious being transported to a dreary and dark place.

 _"Perseus"_ The voice rasped, the very sound of it was offending to my ears. It sounded like nails against a chalkboard but amplified a hundred times.

 _"I do not have much time nor energy left to quarrel with you so listen carefully, grandson."_ I gulped when he mentioned grandson, as it could only mean one thing; Kronos. _"Turn around grandson."_ He continued.

Not wanting to offend any more powerful immortals, I obliged. Observing my surroundings as to deduce wherever I was and as I did and it struck me like a hit from Zeus's master bolt.

I was in Tartarus. The landscape was an endless expanse of deep maroon, only being broken up by a long and meandering river of fire.

I gasped at the sight of the Phlegethon and gagged at the memory of having to drink its gasoline tasting waters.

The next thing that I noticed was a figure that was being illuminated by the river of fire.

"Grandfather" I stated without emotion in my voice.

 _"I know of your quest to defeat my mother, but do not worry about that for the moment. I have used most of my remaining power to freeze you and mother in time so I could have this little chat with you."_

I nodded slowly, unsure of his motives. "Why are you doing this Kronos? Last time I checked you were evil."

His golden eyes seemed to sink down and lose their gleam as I mentioned his past, and he replied, _"I have done many things that I regret. I know no simple apology will suffice to correct the atrocities that I have committed… but I am sorry Perseus. I truly am."_

"But that doesn't explain why you've kidnapped me and are talking to me about this. So if you would be so kind, tell me why the Hades I'm here right now!" I yelled, allowing my emotions to come out more than they should have.

 _"Tsk Tsk Tsk"_ he chided. _"Calm down young one, unfortunately, we don't have all the time in the world as my power wears thin."_ he seemed to chuckle at his joke before continuing his speech. _"You may not know this nor believe me when I tell you, but I am fading. My time truly is coming to an end,"_ he said in a mournful voice. _"And before I go,"_ he continued, _"I wish to make amends with you, after all, you are the hero who killed me, and perhaps the greatest hero to ever live."_

I grew slightly annoyed at the fact he was ignoring the sacrifice Luke made. "I didn't kill you Kronos." I spat, "Luke killed you, without him, I wouldn't be here right now."

Sighing at my modesty and loyalty to my old deceased friend, he continued where he left off. _"I do not wish to bicker with you about this, but if you must know, it was you who is my true bane. Luke may have done the act, but without your support and belief in his abilities, he would have never had the courage to do it."_

I just stared at him, sea green on gold, unsure what to say.

 _"Nevertheless, I am fading and I must make amends,"_ he stated, only to be cut off by my angry remark.

"I don't want your 'amends' Kronos! You have killed so many of my friends I don't even want to be near you!" I spat.

 _"Without my help, you stand no chance against my mother. You know this as well as I do."_ he calmly proclaimed. _"If you won't do it for me,"_ he carried on, _"do it for your family. Your mother. Your unborn sister. Annabeth. And Poseidon…"_

"MUM'S PREGNANT?!" I exclaimed. I am just in shock, now don't get me wrong, I'm not mad or anything. I don't fear that I won't be the centre of her attention or affections anymore. No, I'm just speechless.

 _"Yes, as I said. Your mother is pregnant"_ he replied more forcefully, obviously starting to get slightly annoyed at my antics. _"And if you don't accept my help, her child will die, as well as her and everyone else that you love. So listen carefully and listen well."_ He threatened me.

Yep, he ran out of patience, although I must say I'm pretty surprised he could maintain his peaceful composure for that long.

"Very well grandfather, what is your proposition?" I responded maturely.

Before he responded I saw a brief smile flash across his face. _"I will relinquish my domain of time to you, and you will receive partial immortality much like that of the Hunter's of Artemis, and your reflexes, strength and stamina will be greatly increased."_ He stated with an undertone of pride as if it was the best offer in the world.

Which I mean, it was.

"But… but why?" I stuttered.

 _"Because you are worthy, and without it, the world will be completely decimated by mother's wrath. As well as I owe it to you and the whole Olympian family to at least attempt to make amends."_

 _"And I believe the fates have some… interesting plans for you in the future. Which by the way, even when I am in the realm of the faded, I can still get to you should you mess up the future that the fates have bestowed upon you."_ he threatened menacingly.

I couldn't help but gulp and quickly nod my head in agreement. "I will not fail you grandfather. I accept your generous offer and bid you farewell, as well as offer you my gratitude. Thank you." I declared with renewed vigour in my voice.

I could see his lips contort into a pained smile before he simply said, _"I, Kronos, son of Ouranos and Gaea, King of the Titans and Lord of Time hereby offer my domain of time to Perseus Jackson, son of Sally Jackson and Poseidon, as well as the other mentioned gifts, should he accept."_

"I accept grandfather" I murmured.

I won't lie to you. Seeing the mighty titan lord in such a state kind of hurt. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

He nodded his head before whispering, _"Thank you grandson, and good luck."_

And with that, he faded away until nothing was left, and then I felt a barrage of power and pain. It was worse than generating that earthquake earlier. Far worse. I could feel the raw power making its way slowly through my veins, leaking into every muscle fibre and eventually seeping into my eyes.

I promised myself I wouldn't scream or cry, I had to remain strong for my family and to honour the memory of Kronos.

This excruciating pain lasted for exactly five long minutes, which I knew somehow before realising it was because now I had time as a domain.

'So does that make me a titan?' I thought before shrugging off as it wasn't important right now.

But gods let me tell you, it felt simply divine. I had grown a few inches and now stood at 2-metres tall. I also felt so… alive. All of my energy had been restored and I no longer felt tired or worn out. My muscles had also grown slightly in size and became far more defined, and I could feel the power pulsing through my veins and inside my muscles.

I was brought out of my musings about my new appearance as I was sucked out of, well… my thoughts and back to the land of the living.

I had to shield my eyes from the intense glare of the sun before silently cursing Apollo. As I removed my arm from my face, my eyes readjusted to the mortal world, and I observed all of the Olympians -except Hestia and Aphrodite of course because they didn't come- still in their earthen restraints, and the same situation was being experienced by my fellow questers.

As I continued to stare at my incapacitated family, I noticed the looks of defeat and fear in all of their eyes. Only a few minutes earlier they had been full of fierce determination. It broke my heart seeing them all like that.

'I will make you fade Gaea' I silently vowed, only to forget that she could read my thoughts.

"Ha! It would amuse me to watch you try and fail you arrogant fool." she snapped.

Hearing the beautiful yet deadly voice of my ultimate enemy, I slowly turned around until I was facing her, staring into her eyes with a look that would promise pain.

She visibly flinched as I continued my brutal stare down before straightening up and arrogantly declaring, "You do not frighten me, _boy_ ".

I'll admit it. I allowed myself a small chuckle. Only because she sounded _exactly_ like Lady Artemis and her Hunter's when they talk to any male.

I continued to stare at her before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath in, and just as I opened my eyes ready to charge at my all-powerful foe, I felt another rush of power flowing into me. It felt so similar to what happened with Kronos, albeit a tiny bit weaker.

Nevertheless, it still felt like my body was on fire, with liquid fire travelling through my veins, into my muscles and into my heart, before finally flowing into my eyes.

Once the pain had subsided I felt the overwhelming presence of hope overtake me and I gave Gaea my signature crooked grin, and I took solace to the sight of her visibly shrinking away from me.

 **Authors Note: I would just like to thank 'The Broken Sith Lord' for being the first reviewer of this story! Reviewing really means a lot and I appreciate it greatly, and without it, I can't improve my writing. Anyways, thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO.**

 _Once the pain had subsided I felt the overwhelming presence of hope overtake me and I gave Gaea my signature crooked grin, and I took solace to the sight of her visibly shrinking away from me._

 ** _Hestia POV_**

I observed the scene through the hearth with worry. There was no way that Perseus could win this fight. Sure he had done many impossible things in his lifetime, from defeating Ares when he was 12 to defeating Kronos when he was 15. But alas this was pushing his luck, which had always been bad. It was as if the Fate's had personally cursed him.

 _"Ha! It would amuse me to watch you try and fail you arrogant fool."_ snapped Gaea, her voice slightly distorted by the soft crackle of the flames.

He proceeded to stare into her eyes in an intimidating manner that made both me and her alike shrink back into our skins. Gaea was scared.I had no doubt about that in my mind.

She only reinforced that idea when she spoke next, "You do not frighten me, _boy_ ". She was a scared child cornered by a vicious beast. The way she responded and acted was eerily similar to Artemis; they both tried to dispel their fears by intimidation.

I sighed at the thought of my stubborn niece, but quickly cleared my mind of that worry.

'Peruses' struggle is far more important than Artemis's petty behaviour.' I chided myself.

Very few things surprised me nowadays after my millennia of life, but my protective behaviour regarding Perseus was simply an enigma.

Was it because he had shown me respect when no one else did? Or was it because he had entrusted me with safeguarding hope and freeing him from the temptation of opening Pandora's Pithos?

After a few more moments of deep thought, my eyes flashed back to the scene in the orange flames that were situated in the centre of the mighty Olympian throne room; Perseus and Mother Earth had ended their stare-downs and were obviously preparing to attack.

Just as Percy opened his eyes and tensed his muscles in preparation for one final charge, I let out a pained scream. "No!" and what I did shocked me even more. I felt a part of my essence and power flow from out of me, into the hearth, and into young Perseus.

I gasped.

I had inadvertently given him my blessing and made him my Champion, to be more specific, the first Champion I had ever had. Although that added another unanswered question into my mind; how did I ACCIDENTALLY bless him?

 ** _Percy POV_**

I had thought that I was powerful after receiving Kronos's blessing, but I had never envisioned myself becoming THIS powerful. Yeah yeah I know I'm not as powerful as Gaea or anything but still. The raw power coursing through my veins was simply intoxicating.

Although multiple questions tugged at my mind; like who gave me their blessing and why? What did the blessing entail? Did I receive some super amazing abilities?

Despite the predicament I was currently in I was acting like a child in a candy store.

At the thought of a candy store, my mind subconsciously flashed back to the times my mum walked into our run-down apartment wearing the red and white striped uniform from the candy store at Grand Central Station that she worked at, smelling like all the sweets in the world…

'CONCENTRATE PERCY!' I mentally screamed.

This was most definitely neither the time nor place to get so distracted, and if I continued on this tangent there wouldn't be any traces of my mother left. Well, and the fact I wouldn't really have a mind to think with, with all the death and stuff.

After I managed to wrangle my mind back into my body and the coming battle, I stole one more gaze at my family. The sight of their broken forms gave me all the reason to finish this.

'Damn. There it was again' I thought. It had first appeared when I was hit with that blessing from an unknown person or god, but at first it was a mild tingling sensation at most. Now it was an overwhelming force that lifted up my head and spirits, encouraging me to never give up. And I intended to follow that instruction to the end.

My eyes snapped towards the Goddess of mud, and I noticed her eyes slightly widen, before narrowing again.

'Hm, I wonder what's up with her. It's not like I pose any risk to her." I thought, but I tend to have a knack for surprising myself and annoying my enemies.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I let loose a war cry that created a small shockwave that stunned the goddess slightly. Capitalising on this opportunity, I charged Gaea. All that was on my mind was slash stab slash, well, that and how I've got to save the world again.

I crossed the 30ft between us in the blink of an eye and launched my first attack; a fast and powerful slash aimed at her legs. Quickly snapping out of her gaze, Gaea condensed her aura and released it, blowing me back about 10ft.

Being hit by a silver wall of blisteringly hot primordial energy was not a good start to the fight, nevertheless, I recovered my wits and observed my opponent carefully.

Her earthen form stood at a proud 9ft tall, looking as if she was sculpted out of the purest marble available, and her eyes were a solid and vibrant green. She didn't have a weapon, but I saw the wisps of pure energy gathering in her palms, pulsating menacingly.

In a split second the energy in her right hand condensed into the form of a spear, albeit with no detailing whatsoever; it was essentially a rod of her own essence. As she pulled her arm back reading to propel her weapon, time seemed to slow and my vision became clouded with a golden hue.

On instincts alone, I rolled to the side and narrowly missed the speeding projectile. As I looked behind myself in curiosity and saw a mile long trench of dug up dirt and destroyed trees.

I gulped. This was not looking good at all.

"I must say, Jackson, I'm quite surprised," Gaea boomed, "Although I have a sneaking suspicion you are harnessing the power of my weak son."

I narrowed my eyes and replied in an innocent tone, "And why would you think that o mighty primordial of the Earth?"

Obviously unaware of my blatant sarcasm and mockery Gaea continued, "You managed to bend time to your will, and your eyes… they are laced with the golden sands of time, as well as the burning fires of hope."

"What?" I questioned.

"It is of no concern now for you will have all of eternity to reflect on your appearance in Tartarus!" she sneered triumphantly.

I prepared to launch another offensive, only to be beaten to the punch. Literally. Gaea disappeared in a dazzling green flash only to reappear behind of me and punch me in the small of my back. The moment her fist made contact with my body, I was launched forward like a rocket, eventually landing face first in the bone-dry soil 50ft away.

I won't lie, the location of where she punched me really struck a nerve. It seemed as if she knew about where my old Achilles heel was, and that this was simply a show of power and dominance.

I grimaced at that thought and slowly pulled myself up off the ground. As I turned to face the silhouette of the woman in the distance, I formulated a plan in my head, knowing that brute force wasn't going to cut it.

 _"Use the power inside you, my hero,"_ a melancholic voice rang out in my head.

'What the…' I muttered to myself. What power did I have inside of me? As I pondered this question I finally realised what the voice meant, and just in time as well as Gaea was barreling towards me with another javelin of energy aimed straight at my head.

I faced my enemy and looked her dead in the eyes and observed the release of her javelin. As it sped towards me, I tapped into the power I held deep within.

Time slowed to a crawl. I calmly stepped out of the path of the deadly projectile and walked straight up to Gaea. At this point, everything had stopped. I couldn't see any signs of movement from her or the javelin. But I'm not really in a position to question my luck so I carried on.

As I reached her side, I pulled back riptide only to launch it straight into her chest. As soon as I felt it make contact, I lost all control over time and was blasted back by a blinding light.

'Huh?' I thought, confused as to what happened.

Once I landed back onto the firm ground and my vision had returned, I saw Mrs Killjoy standing up straight with a smirk etched into her face.

"Silly hero, you cannot harm me with your little toothpick." she chided menacingly.

"This is no _toothpick,_ " I spat, "This sword holds the immortal essence of one of the Hesperides!"

At the sound of that Gaea appeared to gag slightly, "Pooh! They are but ants to me. They hardly classify as immortals."

That enraged me, Zoë Nightshade was no lesser immortal! She was a fearsome Hunter of Artemis and a daughter of Atlas. Scrap that, she was a HERO in every sense of the word.

Noticing my scowl Gaea laughed. "You're going to have to do better than that to defeat me Perseus," she replied condescendingly.

In a desperate attempt I charged towards her and as I reached her, I swung my sword in a wide arc. Time seemed to slow as I saw my faithful sword Riptide morph into a 7ft long celestial bronze scythe that was glowing defiantly with a golden energy. The divine weapon seemed to strengthen my hold on time and it swiftly sliced across its creator's chest, creating a deep gash.

"GAH!" Gaea screamed in anguish. Glittering silver ichor; the blood of the primordials, trickled down her chest slowly and as it pooled onto the soil, patches of green grass started to spread across the barren landscape.

"You… You imbecile!" she screamed in a fit of rage. "How did you get that scythe!" she demanded, her voice so shrill I feared my eardrums would burst.

"Your son gave it to me of course," I replied, my voice void of all emotions.

At the mention of her once-prized son, her face soured and the sky darkened and she summoned another bolt of energy. Anticipating this move, I simply swung the blade of the scythe to intercept it. As soon as the two divine powers met, there was a blinding light.

As the light dimmed I saw green energy pulsating and running up and down the length of the gleaming bronze scythe. I could feel the metal start to heat up much like Anaklusmos had when my father and I had summoned that earthquake earlier.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity, I slammed the butt of the handle into the ground with all the force I could muster and was exceedingly pleased with the result. A golden cocoon of light illuminated the area and blasted Gaea all across her body.

I turned the scythe in my hands and marvelled at what had just happened. The weapon just absorbed her javelin of crackling energy and was able to channel it in my favour. Wanting to learn more about the powers that were hidden within this ancient blade, I charged my foe once more with renewed vigour.

This time I varied up my strike; instead of swiping low, I opted to go for an overhead swing, bringing down the blade towards Gaea's head with alarming speed.

At the last second before impact, she lifted her arm to cover her face and the scythe promptly made contact, shearing her left forearm clean off the bone.

She let loose a tormented sheik as a torrent of gleaming and glistening silver blood gushed out of her arm and onto the battlefield. She looked at me, then at her dismembered limb, and then at me again with an expression of pure shock.

"Wha… wha… what?" she stuttered.

"Looks like you underestimated me and my abilities _goddess_ " I spat uncharacteristically, but hey don't judge, with the amount of adrenaline coursing through my veins, I wasn't even sure if the rational side of my brain had any control over my actions.

I quickly glanced at the scythe blade and saw that it was stained with a vibrant silver. 'Huh,' I murmured. I'll admit, it did look pretty badass.

Unfortunately for me, I had stalled and become lost in my thoughts, but luckily Gaea, being the genius she was, drew me out of my musings instead of striking while I wasn't focused.

"I WILL DESTROY YOU PERSEUS JACKSON!" she screeched in fury.

"Join the queue lady," I snapped, "Although unfortunately you're behind a lot of people." I continued. "The Minotaur, Medusa, Ares, Polyphemus, Hyperion, Kronos, Polybotes… I think you get the idea."

"YOU INSOLENT BRAT! YOU DARE TAUNT ME?"

Instead of responding and sealing my fate, I simply gave her my one of my signature crooked grins, which infuriated her even more.

Growing tired of this meaningless charade, and not wanting to allow her anymore opportunity to curse or attack me, I swung the god-killing weapon once more, but this time it was aimed at her exposed neck.

It travelled through all of the flesh and bone and sinew like a hot knife through butter. All I heard was a gurgling scream; Gaea was chocking on her own ichor. The sight of the beaten primordial brought me back to when I almost suffocated Akhlys with her own poison.

I involuntarily shivered at that thought. I still couldn't believe I almost allowed myself to DROWN a goddess with her OWN poison, especially one as miserable as Akhlys.

I was brought back to the current moment by the sound of something hard thumping on the ground; Gaea's decapitated head.

 ** _3rd Person POV_**

As the once mighty Protogenoi's head hit the ground, her body started to burn with pale wisps of silver smoke. The smoke travelled across her pale and lifeless body, igniting every inch of it in a faint golden light. Both her physical body and her soul was being eaten away by the various strikes of Kronos's scythe.

Little did Percy or any of the gods know, the damage she sustained was so great that this would be her last reincarnation. She was fading after millions of years of existence and pain.

As her body and decapitated head were finally eaten away by the ravenous fires the earth shook with an intensity felt never before. The Earth itself was reacting to the loss of its mistress.

The shaking continued for multiple minutes until finally subsiding. It had destroyed the constraints that had bound the 'mighty' Olympian gods and their children. They immediately fell to the ground in a stunned state, unaware of the only remains of Gaea; dazzling green energy, rushing into young Perseus's body.


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO.**

 ** _3rd Person POV_**

Camp Half-Blood was under siege. It had been surrounded on all sides but one by the Twelfth Legion Fulminata. That one side that they didn't surround was the sea; the domain of the mighty earth-shaker Poseidon.

It was also where the Greeks had most of their treasures stashed away should the Roman's break through their lines, as they knew with the protection of Percy and his father, their prized possessions would be safe.

A number of triremes floated on the calm seas, although small ones at that. The wood of their hulls was encrusted with a thick layer of barnacles and stained a vibrant green colour. The sails flapped defiantly in the wind, the white fabric new and unworn. The dozens of long oars stuck out of the ship like spears in a giant.

The sunrise over the horizon was dull, although that was to be expected with Apollo concentrating on his fight with Gaea and her treacherous children. The rays of light sped over the open expanse of the ocean, reflecting off of all shiny metal surfaces in the area; the Apollo cabin, the shields on the sides of the trireme's, and the armed Roman soldiers.

Suddenly, the serene silence was broken by the crack of thunder and a flash of dangerous lightning. This was the rallying call of the mighty Roman's, their solid imperial gold eagle standard's head was glowing with the same searing ferocity that the Roman's possessed.

"Romans!" the voice echoed throughout the valley.

"Today we free the gods from the mental incapacitation brought about by these _Gracious scums,_ " spat the voice.

This voice belonged to the warmongering Augur of the twelfth legion, Octavian, a legacy of Phoebus Apollo.

Patriotic cheers rang out in response to the empowering words from their stand-in praetor, the Roman's had been camped outside the boundary to the Greek's camp for weeks and were lusting for the spilling of Greek blood.

The commotion from the outer fringes of the camp's magical border had echoed throughout the camp and the deafening noise was reflected and amplified off of the cabins.

The faint sounds of bodies thumping onto the hardwood floors and the stomping of feet could be heard coming from the various cabins, with the greatest intensity coming from the Ares, Hermes and Apollo cabins.

After a few shouts and more dull knocking noises, camper's armed to the teeth with weapons, shields and armour streamed out the doors to their respective cabins. With some campers still wearing their pyjamas under their combination of hard leather and bronze armour.

As they assembled their forces and checked over each others armour in the dining pavilion, they failed to notice the small eight-year-old child sitting by the edge of the embers of the fire shaking her head.

Her facial expressions and her eyes revealed all. Her downcast expression and sunken and dull eyes conveyed her disappointment.

 ** _Hestia POV_**

'Why must they fight?' I thought mournfully. They were so similar to one another and yet they had branded each side as their mortal enemies, regardless of the fact that their parents and relatives were two halves of the same gods.

I could feel the sullen atmosphere start to suffocate my hearth, choking the flames until all that remained were smouldering embers. The hope felt by the campers, Romans and gods was at an all-time low.

The only thing that revitalised my spirits were the thought of one hero, to be more specific: Percy Jackson.

Just thinking of him caused me to feel such euphoria, it was unbelievable. My heart would beat faster and my cheeks would develop a deep golden blush. The origins of this infatuation continued to remain a mystery to me, although I was starting to question whether my previous hypothesise were true.

Although he did give me the respect and attention no one else did, that didn't feel quite right. Heck, even him gifting me Pandora's Pithos and entrusting me with his hope wasn't it. Despite them being the only things I could remember him doing specifically for me, they just weren't the correct answer.

'GAH!' I mentally screamed. This simple mystery was absolutely infuriating. Although these surprisingly violent outbursts were always soothed by the thought of his captivating eyes; a swirly maelstrom of sea green.

'Could it be I have finally fallen in… NO! Bad Hestia, you are a maiden goddess,' I chastised myself harshly. 'Although…' I thought, "Falling for him wouldn't be the worst thing in the world…'

 ** _3rd Person POV_**

The campers' tunnel vision was so great they even ignored the massive flare released from the camp's hearth, although Chiron was much more perceptive than his student's.

He gazed curiously at the red-hot coals before shaking his head and returning his gaze back to his campers and the 'enemy' lines.

The look on his face portrayed a deep psychological pain; the pain of losing his students and essentially his adopted children. It was a well-known fact that every hero that was slain brought a searing pain to the old centaur's heart, and the past few years had been some of the worst.

So many campers had been killed throughout both the lead up to the Second Titan War and during the Battle of Manhattan. Not only that, but so many had just disappeared from his protection, seemingly to join his father's army. That caused him more pain, as in his eyes, it reflected his many failures.

He wasn't even allowed an opportunity to properly mourn and honour the fallen heroes because Giant War had commenced soon after Kronos was sent back to his prison in Tartarus. Not only that but then one of his favourite students went missing, only for him to find out later that he was kidnapped by the Queen of the Heavens herself.

Although that event had weighed more heavily on the heart of Annabeth than it did on him. She was infatuated with the young son of Poseidon, and he reciprocated those feelings.

However, during the months Percy was missing, he noticed some strange behaviour from Annabeth. He didn't mean strange as in sorrow and mourning as those feelings were justified. No, what he meant was she started to hang around male half-blood's more regularly and often snuck out at night to rendezvous with them.

That thought pained him although he shoved it into the side of his mind. Annabeth couldn't have cheated on Percy, could she? Aphrodite herself boasted that they were Olympus's greatest love story, although I suspected there was more than one meaning to her words.

As another bright blue bolt of electricity snaked its way across the suddenly dark and cloudy sky above Camp Half-Blood and the thunder boomed, Chiron stomped his hoof against the hard marble floor.

"Campers," he shouted to get their attention. "Finish your meals quickly, I fear the battle will commence very soon." he continued with a grave and downcast face upon his face.

Several groans of displeasure were sounded by some of the campers but there were quickly silenced by punches and elbows being directed at them by their fellow demigods.

"Get into your lines!" roared Clarisse commandingly. The daughter of Ares towered over most campers at over 6ft tall and had short brown hair, muscled arms and fiery eyes. She was clearly in her element here and was eager to lead her side to a swift victory.

The Greek's quickly scrambled into their lines; the five lines comprised of about ten demigods each. As Clarrise paced through the demigod's ranks, she muttered unintelligibly to herself and then pointed to three demigods.

"You, you and you," she stated without any emotion. The demigods she had chosen were Will Solace, son of Apollo, Lou Ellen, daughter of Hectate, and Cecil Markowitz, son of Hermes.

"You three will _sneak_ into the Roman camp and disable their onagers." She had put extra emphasis on the sneak part.

The trio nodded their heads and sprinted off towards the camp's boundary.

"The rest of you," Clarrise yelled, "Follow me. FOR OLYMPUS!"

"FOR OLYMPUS!" the demigods echoed in an energetic frenzy, obviously empowered by the mention of their divine parents.

They marched slowly with Clarrise in the lead and their weapons tightly in hand towards Thalia's pine tree and the magical barrier.

 ** _Percy POV_**

After I had defeated Gaea, I fell to the ground in both exhaustion and agony. It felt like receiving the two previous divine blessings combined, and then triple it. I couldn't help but scream in utter anguish.

I could feel my blood heat up as it mixed with whatever energy had entered my body, but this time it spread throughout my body almost instantaneously. My veins were pulsating and throbbing profusely, obviously struggling to contain the divine power that they held.

I felt my body spasm and twitch as my body slowly adjusted. It was like ants crawling under my skin and in my muscles, but the ants were on fire and covered in acid. It was simply unbearable. To be honest, I'm not sure I could physically or mentally handle any more pain today.

Luckily for me, the burning sensation ebbed and left me gasping for air.

"PERSEUS!" I heard my father yell as he sprinted towards me, his words laced with paternal worry.

"I'm…. fine" I grunted, but he obviously saw straight through my lie and embraced me tighter than Tyson ever had.

After he had been hugging me for a full minute someone behind us cleared their throat loudly, and as they did thunder rumbled in the distance.

'Who would've guessed, the pseudo-god of theatre wanting to take the attention away from others and redirect it to themselves,' I snorted at the thought of Zeus being an attention seeking drama queen.

Silence ensued and no one spoke until my father whispered softly into my ear, "Congratulations son, you personally defeated the single greatest threat to the god's reign."

I blushed at the praise I was getting from my own father.

"It was a team effort dad," I replied, only to be cut off him lecturing me on how I was wrong, and by the end of it, I couldn't really find any fault in his reasoning.

Just as Zeus was about to brag about his role in our victory, he was interrupted by a blazing column of orange fire, much to his displeasure. Although when he saw who it was that just arrived, and the look they were giving him he shrank back into his skin.

 ** _Hestia POV_**

I flashed away from the Greek camp for two main reasons; to avoid the coming conflict, and to help me resist the temptation to break the Ancient Laws and stop the needless bloodshed and slaughter.

I reappeared instantly in a fiery inferno at the site where Gaea had been defeated just minutes before. It was obvious that I interrupted one of Zeus's absolutely _marvellous_ and egotistical speeches when he gave me a scandalous look, only to widen his eyes in surprise when I pouted and pretended to start crying.

As I surveyed the battlefield, I noticed that patches of fresh grass carpeted a vast area of it, branching out from one central location, and that location was where Perseus was standing.

'Perseus…' I thought dreamily, only to widen my eyes in surprise and shake my head vigorously in an attempt to rid my head of such impure thoughts. But it was no use, I was utterly enthralled by Perseus's body; his multi-coloured eyes, his raven black hair and those muscles…

'WOAH GET A GRIP HESTIA!' I mentally screamed at myself.

After I had recollected my thoughts, I continued to gaze over the expanse of dirt only to see the seven heroes bowing deeply to my presence.

"There is no need to bow heroes. If anything, us gods should be bowing to you as if it were not for your courageous actions, we would be in Tartarus."

As they started to rise gratefully Zeus chimed in, "Now hold on a second sister," but I didn't allow him to continue what he was about to say.

"You better shut your mouth right now Zeus or I'll have to get Hera to help me wash your mouth out with soup" I threatened.

His face lost its faint golden hue as he imagined the embarrassment of being scolded like a child by his wife and sister.

"That's better," I said merrily with a smile adorning my face.

"No offence or anything Lady Hestia," Jason timidly stated, "but why are you here?"

I replied with a slight frown, "Ah, now that is less fortunate news. The two camps are currently slaughtering each other and we all need to bring an end to it."

Percy's eyes widened at what I just said. "Why are we wasting time? Let's go and stop them!" he exclaimed in a panic.

His caring attitude warmed my heart and I simply smiled before waving my hand, causing us to flash to the top of Half-Blood Hill.

 ** _Percy POV_**

As Hestia flashed us to what I assumed was Camp Half-Blood, I had a bad feeling lingering in my gut like something really bad was about to happen.

As soon as the Hestia, the eleven Olympians, the other heroes of the prophecy and I materialised on top of the hill I found out what my gut was warning us about.

A massive 5ft in diameter boulder encrusted with imperial gold was rocketing straight towards us. I tried to tap into my time powers but to no avail, I was completely powerless in stopping the projectile from hitting whoever was in front of us. The second I thought about it hitting the god in front of us my face lost all of its colour, that would mean it was going to hit…

I was knocked out of my thoughts by a bloodcurdling scream…

"HESTIA!" I roared.

It was at this moment that time seemed to slow, much to my displeasure, and I saw her body. She had been blasted backwards only to be stopped by the Olympian's, and the projectile had totally disintegrated due to the direct hit.

The sight of her mangled body made my blood run cold and time continued to flow even slower until I felt the passage of time grind to a complete stop.

I ran over to her side only to witness the damage done to her; the skin of her chest was charred and burnt beyond recognition, whatever had hit her had also disintegrated the upper portion of her chiton.

Next, I saw a few ribs sticking out of her body. The sight of the pure white bones piercing her chest made me want to throw up.

Every second longer that I looked at her, the more enraged I got.

'How could anyone do this to such a peaceful and kind goddess?' I thought.

The only answer I could think of was a monster, and I turned out to be spot on.

I inched closer to her and ran my fingers along her soft but slightly blacked cheek. As soon as I touched her, I lost control over the passage of time and the rest of the Olympian's saw what I had been seeing for the last minute.

 ** _3rd Person POV_**

Everyone was frozen, unable to process what had just happened; the Olympians, the seven demigods of the prophecy, the Greek's and the Roman's. It was so quiet you could hear the buzzing noise that was being generated by the power that three beings were emitting.

Poseidon and Zeus snapped out of the daze and summoned their respective weapons of power; a celestial bronze trident with green energy flickering around the tips, and a javelin of blue electricity. They acted in conjunction, slamming their weapons into the ground and screaming.

"SILENCE!" If the shockwave from their display of power didn't frighten everyone present enough, them putting aside their bickering for once to maintain order sure did.

"Apollo," Zeus thundered, his voice strained, he was obviously barely keeping the dam that held his emotions intact, "Take Hestia to your temple and treat her."

Apollo nodded his head absentmindedly and flashed the two of them out in a blinding burst of golden light.

"Who. Did. It," Poseidon questioned in a deathly calm voice only to be met with silence.

"WHO DID IT!" he roared, the severity of the situation being reinforced by the earth shaking violently.

As the demigods escaped their states of stupor, all but one unanimously pointed at one person who was cowering behind one of the massive onagers.

"What is your name," Zeus demanded, before flickering form into Jupiter.

"Oc…Octavian, your majesty, o all-powerful Lord Jupiter," Octavian stammered desperately.

"Do not play these silly games with me _boy,_ " he spat venomously. He was about to continue his harrowing rant but he was interrupted by both Hera and Poseidon leaning towards him and whispering into his ear.

 _"Brother, let us question and punish the filth on Olympus."_ ****

He nodded his head in agreement being flickering form once more, returning to his Greek aspect and waving his hand dramatically, teleporting everyone present to the mighty Olympian Throne Room.

 **Authors Note: I would just like to thank you all for reading, favouriting, following and reviewing, it really means a lot! Also, this story just reached 50 follows 25 favourites (and 7 reviews)! So thank you again!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO.**

He nodded his head in agreement being flickering form once more, returning to his Greek aspect and waving his hand dramatically, teleporting everyone present to the mighty Olympian Throne Room.

 **3rd Person POV**

The armies representing both sides of the Olympian coin were flashed from Camp Half-Blood Hill to inside the grand meeting hall of the Olympian's in a deafening boom of thunder and hundreds of writhing tendrils of electricity.

Many of the demigod's and legacies present had never even been to Olympus, much less the throne room, so this surprise excursion into the heart of their pantheon helped to offset some of the shock of the events that had previously transpired.

The throne room truly was a sight to behold, designed by the hero of Olympus, Annabeth Chase herself. The columns extended 100ft upwards and were gilded with coiling and shining vines of both gold and silver.

The dozens of columns pierced the clear blue sky that hung above the floating mountaintop, allowing everyone present a breathtaking view; despite it being the afternoon, the stars were shimmering with a bright ethereal light. Especially the newest constellation; the Huntress.

The sight of it helped to calm the nerves of Phoebe Artemis, despite her stoic facade, deep inside she was a scared little girl who yearned for comfort, and the sight of her deceased sister in arms provided her with the comfort that she so desperately craved.

The demigods, demigoddesses and legacies soon shifted their gaze to the hearth. Many cocked their heads in confusion, expecting it to be a 50ft tall blazing inferno radiating heat for miles and miles. Alas, it was simply a pile of glowing embers due to the... state of the goddess charged with maintaining the fire of Olympus.

The sight caused one demigod, in particular, to bow his head in shame, with his eyes radiating a deep sadness, and his shoulders hunched forward in a crestfallen manner.

 **Percy POV**

I should've done more. I should've saved her, and yet… I didn't.

I felt like the biggest fraud of the century. No, strike that. The biggest fraud of the millennia. I had been gifted all of this power by Kronos himself as well as by two other deities and yet I couldn't stop one explosive projectile.

It should've been a simple and straightforward task. I chocked back tears; the events of the day had finally caught up with me.

The image of Hestia's lacerated figure behind supported by my father and uncle was etched deep into my soul itself, like a burn that will never go away, constantly causing me agony. Although the strange thing was that I somewhat embraced the prospect of endless suffering with open arms.

I guess that is the truly horrific part of my fatal flaw. My true curse was the excessive amounts of personal loyalty I felt towards everyone I had accepted into my life, and every time they were hurt or killed, I took the burden solely on my shoulders.

Bianca Di Angelo…

Zoë Nightshade…

Charles Beckendorf…

Silena Beauregard…

Michael Yew…

Lee Fletcher…

Those deaths, along with the many more casualty's brought forth by the two divine wars weighed heavily on my conscious. What's worse was that I had forgotten so many of their names or outright never learned them at all.

'It's not fair,' I sobbed. Why did the fates hate me with such a burning passion?

 **3rd Person POV**

Once the gods had finally seated themselves at their super-sized thrones, they noticed the room darken slightly, and the glow of the hearth's embers fade.

They noticed the culprit right away; Pursues Jackson. His lament was so raw and powerful that it influenced the most sacred room in the entire Greek pantheon; where only the Olympian's should have any degree of control.

Poseidon had been staring intently at his son's form, although his attention was directed elsewhere by the loud and disrespectful joking coming from a certain daughter of Athena.

Growling silently, the god of the sea noticed more details that startled him; she was laughing in the centre of a group of smug looking male camper's, with a disgusting grin of her own plastering her face.

 **Poseidon POV**

"How dare she…" I muttered under my breath, feeling my throne rumble slightly, responding to my sudden change of emotion.

 _'I may not be the greatest lover or companion by a long shot, but even I would comfort Amphitrite in such an occasion.' my mind screamed._

The sight of seeing my son's girlfriend failing to comfort him and instead of leaving him to wallow in his pity alone, especially while laughing and having a seemingly great time with other demigods made my blood run cold.

The sight of her made me sick; it was far worse than even Polybote's poison.

As I uneasily shifted my gaze upward, I locked eyes with the Love Goddess, who was squirming uncomfortably in her dove-shaped throne. I decided it would be best to have a little chat with her as I waited for the meeting to start.

 _"Aphrodite,"_ I telepathically spoke to her with my deep voice showing undertones of extreme annoyance.

 _"Poseidon, I assume you have seen it too…"_ she replied half-heartily.

 _"I don't understand Aphrodite. What is with her behaviour? Has she no shame or dignity?"_ I roared.

 _"I am as confused as you are right now, although I have a hunch as to what dear old Annabeth is playing at."_ she spat venomously.

Just as I was about to ask her what she meant, the deafening bark of thunder echoed throughout the throne room; the council session had begun.

 **3rd Person POV**

The sound of thunder and the overpowering smell of ozone filling the room caused everyone to shut their mouths and star at Zeus's solid platinum throne.

"The war against Gaea and the Gigantes has been won!" he thundered. Gleeful cheers erupted from the crowd of demigods, they had obviously forgotten the bloodlust they held for each other and the events involving an injured goddess that had previously transpired.

Zeus continued with his enthralling speech, "But," pausing for dramatic effect, "before we may reward the heroes that made our victory possible, and before we can celebrate, we must first punish the act of treason committed against my sister."

The celebratory mood instantly died down, and the ensuing silence was broken by an inquisitive demigoddess interrupting Zeus's speech to ask a question.

"What do you mean an act of treason has been committed against your sister?" Annabeth Chase demanded rudely.

"It means," Zeus carried on, his voiced strained and his temper being tested, "that Hestia has been gravely injured by someone present in this very room. Does that answer your question, disrespectful spawn of my daughter?" Zeus spat.

Annabeth's face contorted in an incredulous look, obviously unable to process the response she got to what she saw as a perfectly legitimate and reasonable question.

"WELL DOES IT?!" Zeus boomed with thunder echoing around the room for added dramatic effect.

Annabeth looked at a loss for words before turning to her mother for help. "Mother, are you not going to defend me? I have done nothing wrong!" she pleaded.

Zeus was about to respond but was beaten to it by Athena.

"Daughter," she stated. "Now is not the time to be interrupting Lord Zeus, especially without addressing him as such. Do you understand me?"

Snickers could be heard from the tight group of demigods that stood at attention by the solid gold doors.

"But… wha…. mother!" Annabeth stuttered in complete disbelief and with undertones of range.

"Silence," Athena snapped, but that did not stop the prideful demigoddess.

"But Percy says far worse things and is never punished!" she whined like a small child whose toy had been confiscated.

"YOU ARE NOT PERUSES JACKSON ARE YOU?!" Zeus bellowed. His skin had started to emit thin whips of smoke and lightning flashed in his bright blue eyes. Annabeth shrunk into the crowd of startled demigods after the rebuke she had received from both her mother and her grandfather.

"Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," continued Zeus, "We must punish the legacy who caused both a devastating injury to my dear sister, and the Roman's to engage the Greek's," Zeus stated with authority, before his form flickered into that of a man wearing a purple toga; Jupiter.

A nervous chattering began among the demigods before they shut up out of fear of being smote by Zeus's mighty bolt.

"Bring forward Octavian, _ex-_ augur of Camp Jupiter, and legacy of Apollo." Jupiter declared.

Hermes nodded his head firmly before jumping off his throne, shrinking down to his mortal size and grasping the arm of an individual bound in celestial bronze chains; Octavian.

The chains rattled and jangled as the spindly form of the accused was dragged roughly across the marble floor for all eyes to see.

"What do you have to say for yourself _boy_ ," Zeus commanded.

"That puny goddess got in my wa…" but before he could finish his sentence the celestial bronze blade of xiphos was pointed at his neck. To be more specific, Riptide was pointed at his throat, hovering only a millimetre away and it was held by one angry demigod.

"HOW DARE YOU!" he screamed, the building shook profusely after every single syllable. "Hestia is the kindest and most peaceful goddess. How could you justify almost killing her by saying she got in your way?" the livid demigod's voice echoed throughout the throne room.

Although the only response he got was his face being showered by Octavian's saliva as the disgraced augur spat in his face.

It a fit of rage, Perseus pulled back his sword and swung it at Octavian's neck, and as it connected it shifted form to that of a scythe, but once it had severed his head, its form shifted once again back to the 3ft celestial bronze blade.

"HOW DARE YOU!" screamed Apollo as he summoned his symbol of power; a pure golden bow with an arrow of pure sunlight notched.

Instead of responding, the enraged demigod simply gave the sun god an icy stare.

 **Percy POV**

'Oh, my gods…'

'Oh Hades'

'What have I done?'

My mind was assaulted by a barrage of thoughts and regrets; I had just killed another human being in cold blood just for insulting Lady Hestia.

'WHY IN THE NAME OF HADES WOULD I DO THAT?' I mentally screamed.

Deep down I had a suspicion why but I quickly surpassed that thought and the subsequent blush that formed in my cheeks.

I had become a monster.

What would mum say? Heck, what would Hestia say?

The sheer numbers of questions that swam through my mind doubled every second, causing me to drop my sword.

The clang of bronze on marble resonated throughout the hall and every piece of metal held within.

My thoughts were interrupted by something that surprised me greatly; a serious Apollo.

"HOW DARE YOU!" he screamed.

I tried to answer him but to no avail, I had lost my voice, but I also feared that I had also lost my humanity and hope.

I felt my knees weaken and then I fell to the ground while staring at my hands; the hands of a murderer.

 **3rd Person POV**

The deadly silence was broken by the sea god's deathly calm voice, "Drop. The. Bow, nephew."

"And why," sneered Apollo, "would I do that."

Poseidon's sea green eyes narrowed at the attitude he was reviving from his nephew. "Because, if you touch one hair on his head I'll…"

"You'll what?" snapped Apollo.

"I will personally see to it that the hunt is killed off one by one," Poseidon replied, his voice calm and steady.

Before either of the twin archer's could reply, Hera interjected in a desperate attempt to act as a stand-in mediator for her injured sister.

"ENOUGH!" she screeched in a surprisingly undignified manner, although that was the least of her matters.

All eyes snapped onto her in an instant and she spoke softly this time.

"I will not allow any more bloodshed in my throne room. Perseus was completely justified in executing that traitorous scum, and if he hadn't have done it, one of us gods would have. Also, Apollo, you are not to touch or curse Perseus, and Poseidon you are not to hurt any of Artemis's hunters. Capeesh?"

Everyone present including the gods and demigods murmured 'yes' in agreement, much to the delight of Hera.

After both the camper's and legionnaires were thanked for their efforts and told that they would be flashed back later when the party commenced, Zeus cleared his throat, obviously happy for the spotlight to once more be on him.

"Now that those matters have been attended to, we shall reward the seven heroes of the prophecy!" he boomed in an electrifying voice.

"Does anyone have any objections to rewarding these worthy heroes?" he asked.

After waiting a few seconds, he resumed his speech, "Very good." he stated with a pleased smile on his face.

"Let us begin…" he muttered while rubbing his hands together in delight much to the shock of the demigods present. They were not used to him being so… informal.

 **Percy POV**

"Percy Jackson!" my father yelled, pride evident in his voice, and his eyes gleaming with delight.

I step forward slightly and bowed to my father absentmindedly. My mind was still occupied by my… handling of the Octavian situation.

"Percy, I will have none of that," dad chided merrily. Not wanting to ruin his celebratory mood, I stood and shot him a small but insincere grin.

"Does anyone not think that my son is deserving?" he questioned. After hearing no objections or any responses for that matter, he nodded his head towards his brother who took charge of the reward proceedings.

"You know what we shall ask you, young hero. Do you accept?" Zeus questioned with a slight trepidation in his voice. I assumed he was scared that I'd turn down his oh so generous offer again. Which I will.

"And you know my answer, Lord Zeus. I cannot accept godhood, however, I would like the council to grant me any wish, as long as it within your power." After I turned down their offer of godhood for the second time, I looked across the room to where Annabeth was standing and gave her a warm smile, only to be confused when she refused to meet my eyes.

'What the…' I thought before being interrupted by Zeus's reply.

"Very well, nephew" grumbled Zeus.

"I need you to swear on the River Styx, like last time," I reminded him and was met with a mock-dejected sigh from the drama-king of the heavens.

"Very well," he sighed. "I, Zeus, King of the Gods, on behalf of the council, hereby swear on the River Styx that we shall grant your one reasonable wish."

I smiled slightly before beginning. "I wish for Lady Hestia and Lord Hades's thrones and positions on the Olympian council to be returned to them, and would like to remind the council that they have not yet fulfilled one of my requests from the end of the Titan War; you must release the peaceful titans."

Zeus buried his head in his hands in embarrassment, obviously feeling humiliated. I could imagine what was going through his head right now.

 _Oh, whoopsie my all-powerful divine mind forgot to grant one of his wishes and now this wimpy demigod is embarrassing me in front of eeeeeevryone…_

I struggled to contain my laughter at my own comedic genius. I won't lie, I was kinda proud _and_ disgusted that I had managed to forget killing Octavian just minutes before.

Oh, wait, nope. I was wrong. Once I started thinking about that event, I couldn't stop and my crooked grin was wiped off my face and replaced by a wave of guilt. I still can't believe I just…

 **3rd Person POV**

Zeus waved his hand in a lazy fashion, and just seconds after the floor rumbled and two thrones rose out of it.

The first was a simple rocking chair that was emitting a warm and cozy feeling, while the other was made up of about a hundred skulls and bound together by trapped souls.

The feeling coming of Hades's throne was anything but homey, it was downright disturbing. it felt as if something was watching you from behind your back while simultaneously causing your skin to itch in fear.

"Thank you, Lord Zeus," murmured Percy before he stepped back into the group of heroes.

Each of the remaining six heroes was called up by their respective parents; Jason being summoned by Jupiter, Piper by Aphrodite, Leo by Hephaestus, Frank by Mars, Hazel by Pluto and finally Annabeth by Athena.

Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank and Hazel were offered godhood, which they promptly accepted, while what happened next shocked everyone present.

 **Percy POV**

I couldn't help but smile for my friends; they deserved godhood, for, without them, Gaea would have never been defeated.

Next, Athena called up Annabeth, who was I noticed was for some reason fidgeting and avoiding eye contact with me.

"Annabeth, my daughter." Athena declared proudly, her voice sounded so prideful it was borderline arrogant.

"I, along with the rest of this council, offer you godhood."

"WHAT?!" I cried indignantly. "Annabeth you can't be considering this. Please tell me you're not actually considering this," I begged.

Without any hesitation, she said, "I accept godhood."

My whole world had been turned upside down. Earlier when I said I didn't think I could handle anymore mental or physical pain, I think I was right.

My knees buckled beneath my weight and for the second time that day, I fell to my knees in front of the council.

I tried to hold back my tears but the dam holding back my emotions was completely decimated by those three words.

 _"I accept godhood."_

I let lose a harrowing wail and tears started to cascade freely down my face.

"Wh… why Annabeth. Do you not love me anymore?" I stuttered, my voice breaking at the end.

"Not really, no." she sneered viciously. "I stopped loving you when you were on your Roman _holiday_ , and boy did I have a lot of fun experiencing all that the other guys that Camp had to offer"

I couldn't help but stare at her. "You cheated on me?!" I screamed at her. Deep down I was hoping that my seaweed brain had misinterpreted her words.

"You really are an idiot," she smirked before turning away from me and bowing to her mother.

I felt a searing pain in my heart; my mortal anchor had been destroyed. Not wanting to experience any more of this pain, I scrambled to my feet and bolted out of the throne room and past the heavy doors, not caring where I went.

All I knew was that I had to get away from _her_.

 **3rd Person POV**

Poseidon and Artemis were both fuming. They were absolutely livid, and before anyone could stop her, the goddess of the moon pounced off her throne and bounded towards the sorry excuse for a heroine and slapped her in the face, not even bothering to shrink down from her 15ft form.

A number of the gods present took solace in seeing the architect of Olympus thrown through the air like a rag doll, only to be even happier to hear the sickening crunch her body made when it connected with a marble column.

"You bitch!" Athena screamed in rage as she summoned her spear and aegis. But fortunately for evening present, Zeus acted swiftly.

"ENOUGH!" he thundered, his voice was so loud it caused all of the heroes so much pain that they were crawling all over the floor with their hands to their ears.

"But father!" screeched the enraged wisdom goddess only to be cut off by an icy cold stare from her father.

"I will not tolerate any more bickering today. This was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but you and your daughter have ruined it. I advise you stay quiet for the rest of the day Athena." he announced before quickly adding, "Consider yourself and your spawn on probation."

Ignoring the withering gaze directed at him by his disgraced daughter and the snickering coming from Hermes and Apollo's thrones, Zeus continued his speech.

"Now, we shall commence the immortalisation process!" Zeus exclaimed.

The gods began chanting in an ancient dialect that the demigods couldn't understand.

After they had recited their sacred chorus, a bright flash of light beamed from each god into all of the heroes, causing them to scream, shout and curse in pain.

After they had been squirming in pain for a solid five minutes, there was a bright flash of light.

The three Fate's had arrived.

"We would first off, like to congratulate the six new immortals." they eerily chanted as though they were one being.

"We are pleased to present to you: Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, minor god of lightning and wind." they pronounced, earning a proud smile from Jupiter.

"Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, minor goddess of charm-speak."

"Frank Zhang, son of Mars, minor god of beats and transformation" they continued on, ignoring Ares's immature fist pump.

"Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, minor goddess of the riches under the earth."

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, minor goddess of trickery, deceit and architecture."

"And finally, Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, minor god of metalworking and fire."

Just as they were about to flash out to gods knows where they spoke to Poseidon telepathically.

 _"Brace yourself. We truly are sorry,"_ and with that, they left the presence of the council in a blinding flash, leaving the new gods to ogle at each others appearance.

"Well, I believe it's time to par…" Hermes yelled in delight before being interrupted by Apollo's body shaking and spewing a dense green fog.

"Or not…" he added hastily.

 ** _The fall of earth and the fall of time,_**

 ** _The hero and the goddess together combine,_**

 ** _Relationships thrive and relationships die,_**

 ** _Whether the world is to raze or rise,_**

 ** _is up to the child of fire, oceans and time_**

 ** _and for when all else fails, the hearth burns brightest in the sea_**

 **Authors Note: First of all, I would like to say thank you for the 2,000+ views, and secondly to apologise for this abysmal chapter.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO.**

 ** _3rd Person POV_**

After Apollo was possessed by the spirit of Delphi and spoke another prophecy, the throne room defended into chaos, with each god trying to shout over each other. This bickering continued until Zeus snapped out of his daze.

"ENOUGH," he bellowed, his voice reinforced by faint undertones of distant thunder rumbling angrily.

Once everyone had quieted down and looked towards Zeus attentively, and he was satisfied, he carried on.

"It is obvious that the Fate's and the Oracle have presented us with another great prophecy."

Murmurs became to fill the massive room, although it was hardly a room. it made Grand Central Station look like a broom closet.

"What do you think it's about Annabeth?" asked Jason. Obviously hoping that her intellect would have been able to decipher the riddle by now. But alas, she had no answer and disappointed yet another person.

"I don't know…" she murmured in reply.

"But I do know one thing," she added hastily, "If I can't figure it out, then no one can."

Jason and the rest of the new immortals looked at her wearily, as well as peeked behind her.

"What?" she snapped arrogantly. "It's true isn't it?" She was about to continue her egotistical rant before being interrupted by a fuming wisdom goddess.

"Stop embarrassing yourself _daughter_ ," sneered Athena "Are you the goddess of intelligence?" she added.

"No…" Annabeth sighed dejectedly.

"Exactly. Know your place minor goddess." Athena stated before turning away. Her growing disdain for her daughter was becoming more and more evident by the minute.

"But I should be…" Annabeth muttered at a volume she thought was inaudible, and she remained oblivious to the cold glare that Athena was giving her. Her dark grey eyes swirling with anger, the colours flashing from light to dark almost as if they were filled with hidden lightning, and before she could retort, Zeus cleared his throat.

"I recall to have said enough, but it seems you are all DEAF," he raged.

"Jeez, dad, what's gotten your toga in a twist?" Apollo joked before being silenced by a silver arrow whizzing through the air towards his crotch.

"How dare you Apollo! Just because you are my son does not mean you can act disrespectfully towards me. Have you forgotten that I am your king?" Zeus hollered angrily.

"And do not think that I've forgotten what trouble you have gotten us in. The Augur; personally gifted with the gift of prophecy by you, and now you have _generously_ bestowed us with another great prophecy, which I believe I know the meaning behind, and let me tell you this now _son_. I. Absolutely. Loathe. It."

As Apollo was about to deliver a feeble lecture on how he was simply the vessel prophecies to flow through, he was silenced by another arrow, but this time it was heading straight for his big mouth.

The electrified silence was broken by none other than everyone's favourite goddess with a major case of hubris.

"Wait, you've already figured out the prophecy?" she gasped. "But.. but that's impossible, even my mother and myself have been unable to decipher it's meaning, and yet you…"

"What were you about to say?" asked Zeus in an eerily calm voice.

The only thing that could be heard was the faint crackle of the Hearth's barely glowing embers.

"Are you going to answer your king?" he demanded. Whatever the prophecy was, it had definitely put a twist in his toga and a lightning bolt up his…

"I… I was about to say, um" she stammered, at a complete loss for words.

Zeus smirked evilly at her before continuing his verbal beatdown. "Forgetting your insulting of my intelligence. You said that you were in a league of intelligence similar to your mother." He paused for a moment thinking about his words.

"Let me get this straight with you _goddess._ The only aspect of intelligence where you are close to my beloved daughter is DECEIT. Even without it being one of your domains you still excelled at it, and I may be a hypocrite, but I do not tolerate being lied to or tricked. Do you understand?"

The golden glow that her skin possessed when she ascended into godhood had faded away, being replaced by a pale and almost ghostly colour. Not wanting to incur any more of Zeus's wrath, she nodded her head frantically.

The smile that adorned Zeus's face was sinister, he was obviously planning a punishment for Annabeth's insubordinate outburst.

"Listen here _granddaughter_ and listen well. If you are involved in one more little incident today, I will not hesitate to punish you. All of my mercy was used up when I decided not to revoke Apollo's godhood, but maybe, just maybe I can still recycle that punishment."

He obviously took a deep solace in the look of fear that was plastered all over Annabeth's face.

"Does any of the new gods have anything to add?" he asked in a more hushed tone.

They all shook their heads, not trusting themselves to answer in a way that would satisfy Lord Zeus.

"Very well," he continued. As he was about to snap his fingers and teleport them back to Camp Half-Blood, he seemed to remember one thing.

"Before I allow you to leave, you must swear on the River Styx to not reveal any information regarding the prophecy to anyone."

The six immortals hurriedly repeated the oath and shuddered when they heard the lightning echo in the distance; their oaths had been sealed.

The sound of a finger-snapping on the base of someone's thumb could be heard echo faintly, and the moment it was made, the six heroes of Olympus were flashed out of the Throne Room.

 ** _Percy POV_**

'I can't believe that she would do that'

That one thought was being played on constant repeat in my mind as I dashed away from the Throne Room.

I kept my head down low not wanting to look at any of the architecture or buildings. I wouldn't give _her_ the satisfaction of knowing that I found her work simply divine… which I didn't of course.

Not only did I feel pain for losing my girlfriend to whatever heartless monster she had become, but I also felt something else deep in my gut.

It was like a fuzzy feeling that made everything warm and tingly. Palpitating these comforting feelings throughout my body like a second heartbeat. And strangely enough, the feeling only became more intense when I thought of Lady Hestia.

Heck, it even helped clear my mind of that gruesome scene that I thought would stay lodged in the back of my head for all eternity.

"Must be my fatal flaw acting up…" I murmured softly to no-one in particular.

I mean, that explanation made sense? Right?

Why else would I have this strange stirring deep within me, burning majestically like the hearth did…

'WOAH!' my mind screamed. What has gotten into me? Have I finally gone insane?

My body was currently on autopilot as my mind was clouded by existential dread, among other things. My legs had continued to propel me through the winding avenues of Olympus despite the burning pain within them.

My body had finally stopped outside one of the many temples that littered the streets; although this one was different and seemed to cause my emotions to become more erratic.

It was a sprawling, solid gold monstrosity with a red cross above the door.

'Apollo's hospital-temple' I mused.

I started to wonder why I had come here and then I remembered. How could I have forgotten? Hestia would definitely be here, as it was the only place on Olympus equipped to deal with such injuries.

I walked up the steep steps to the entrance of the palace and as I brought my fist up to the massive 10ft high doors, they suddenly burst open causing me to stumble forward.

'Curse you inertia' I thought dryly.

I mindlessly and blindly shuffled through the seemingly endless corridor, mainly because I had my eyes squeezed shut because the vivid light reflecting off of the golden everything was blinding me. Eventually, I walked through a narrow doorway and the light suddenly dimmed.

And as I opened my eyes I saw her.

Her upper-body was wrapped heavily in white bandages, although I could see the stains from the ichor leaking through them.

My heart stopped.

As I walked forward with my hand out towards her I was startled by a sudden noise.

"Whoa calm down there cousin. It wouldn't be the best idea to touch her." a relaxed voice sounded out.

"Oh hey Apollo," I said while turning around to see the resident doctor. "How is she?" I asked sincerely before doing a double take.

"Apollo!" I exclaimed frantically, "You look like a gh… ghost," I stuttered.

"Well, I'm a bit worn out cause of the battle and all that jazz, so naturally my secondary form wouldn't be as… life-like as it should be," he said casually as if anything he just said had made sense.

"Your secondary form?" I asked quizzically.

"Yeah cuz, didn't you know that gods can be in multiple different places at once?"

I nodded my head. "Well yeah, I guess so."

"That's what a secondary form is," he confirmed. "Although, us gods aren't as powerful as we once were cause of y'know, the titan war, the giant war, and the lack of worship we get from those ungrateful mortals."

"Oh," I replied intelligently, earning a snort from the sun god.

"Ah, it's good to see some people never change," he exclaimed gleefully.

"Um, Lord Apollo. Back to my original question, how is Hestia?" I said as I turned away from ghost-Apollo and towards the bedridden and unconscious goddess.

"She has had better days that's for sure," he stated in a downcast manner.

"Cut the shit. Please." I begged.

He widened his eyes before responding, "Well, she has a punctured lung, multiple fractures and broken bones, severe burns and lacerations and her overall godly aura has weakened tremendously."

"Thanks," I whispered weakly.

"No prob cuz, any time. I'll just, ah, leave you to it. Later!" he declared before flashing out in a weak golden light.

Once he had finally left, I slowly inched towards her.

'Oh, my gods.' I thought.

"I'm so sorry Hestia. I should've saved you." I apologised to her unconscious body. The only reply I got was a slight frown on her face, which confused me slightly, although it was better than someone actually replying.

I caressed her cheek softly with the back of my fingers.

"I don't know what to do or how to cope with anything. I'm just so lost." I sighed.

"I wish you were awake right now to help me through this. I know its selfish but I just don't know anymore." I said as I chocked back sobs.

"I've got to go for a while," I continued. "I need time to clear my head. I can't stand the thought of seeing Annab… _her_ face," I quickly corrected myself.

"So I guess it's bye, for now, Lady Hestia," I whispered before leaning in towards her face and kissing her cheek.

'What…' I thought. 'WHY DID I JUST KISS HER CHEEK?! SHE'S A MILLENIA OLD MAIDEN GODDESS!' my mind raged.

In shock, I allowed myself one more quick glance at her sleeping form before turning on my heels and sprinting away, completely aware of the iris message window that was hovering in the corner of the room.

 ** _3rd Person POV_**

"Well, now that they're gone, does anyone have anything to add?" Zeus asked the council.

"Well…" Aphrodite stated with a dumbfounded look on her face. "I just felt something flare up in my domain."

Groans of displeasure were sounded from many of the gods present, especially Artemis.

"Ugh, Aphrodite. We don't want to know about your unimportant love stories." Artemis sighed.

"Oh Arty, this is no ordinary love story." Aphrodite cooed softly, "This is truly the love story of the millennia."

"DON'T CALL ME ARTY!" screeched Artemis. She was about to summon her weapon of power before Apollo spoke up.

"Hestia's condition has stabilised, and you wouldn't believe it if I told you, but Percy is by her side right now," he said excitedly.

Aphrodite squealed before shrieking, "Iris, show us Percy Jackson!"

Mist condensed in the space above the fire pit of the hearth, before displaying the image of none other than Perseus Jackson kissing Hestia on the cheek before running off.

The throne room was completely silent; everyone was in complete and utter shock.

 **Authors Note: This is just a filler chapter by the way, I've lost my writing mojo.**

 **I'd also like to take this time to answer a guest review I received:**

 **Yeah, I agree with you. The last chapter was pretty rushed. In terms of Percy crying, at least for my story and where I want it to go, him having really strong emotions is an essential aspect of his personality. Also, losing a mortal anchor, among other tragedies in one day is enough to warrant tears from anyone, no matter how bvattlehardened they are.**

 **Any-who, thanks for the review! I'm definitely going to try to not rush chapters as much in the future.**


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